Yeah, she thought. Today's the day.
Maribel Hearn likes girls.
Maribel happened to fall in love with her best friend, Renko Usami.
Maribel thinks she can confess her feelings today.
She can.
"Hey, Merry," Renko huffed as she approached the blonde, out of breath. She was gripping her hat, preventing it from falling.
"I thought you'd never get here," Merry exclaimed, holding back an impulsive urge to hug her friend. God, she thought. I gotta get it done with real quick at this rate. Renko was adorable, though, and made Merry's heart flutter with nervousness.
"Yeah yeah, sorry I'm late. Needed to do some important stuff first."
"Oh, so I'm not important?" Merry said this jokingly, knowing Renko would know she didn't mean it. The brunette giggled in response, Merry enjoying every moment of that.
"No, no, you definitely are."
They were meeting at a small café, Renko had picked it out. Maribel thought it seemed nice! The place had a nice palette, and looked small and cute. She didn't know what the kana naming the place said, as she was still learning the language here.
She looked up and around at all the kanji lining the streets for a moment, before looking back at Renko with a curious gaze.
"Shall we?" Renko said, opening the glass door. She eyed her companion, noticing a strange feeling that something was gonna happen later. And Maribel Hearn would be the one to start it.
Once they had a table, Maribel couldn't sit still. She needed to get to the point eventually. Renko probably thought she was spacing out "in Gensokyo".
"Are you okay, Merry?"
She snapped out of her dazed state, looking in Renko's eyes. She looked away swiftly, flustered.
"Y-yeah," Merry said, stumbling over her words. She fiddled with the menu as a distraction, squinting at the kana written on it.
"Okay, then. Do you know what you're getting?"
Renko said this softly, not believing Merry for a moment. She thought her soft tone might help fight whatever was causing this sudden change in behavior in her friend.
It really only made it worse, as Merry felt her face heat up slightly at the way Renko spoke to her. She was so caring! How could Merry not love this girl? She noticed every little thing that was different about Maribel, and always talked her through it. Though she would usually find it adorable, it only worsened her nervousness that day.
"Oh, no, one second," Merry said after a long moment, suddenly regaining her composure.
Renko looked at her friend suspiciously. She just saw a million thoughts run through the girl's eyes in a short second.
Is Merry even that smart?
She silently chuckled at her own petty comment. But, in all seriousness, there seemed to be something on Maribel's mind.
Something big.
"Hey, is there anything you want to talk about?"
Renko's expected question shot a bolt of anxiousness through Merry. Though she had seen it coming, it was actually here now, and much more intimidating than she thought.
"Mmmnnh," Merry mumbled, not wanting to get to the point just yet. It was looming above her, though. She averted her eyes, though previously they were only looking down at her food.
"I'll take that as a yes, right?"
Renko looked up from her food and attempted to catch Maribel's gaze. The blonde was determined to stall for as long as she could.
"You can always talk to me, you know," Renko continued, looking back down.
"Love is weird, you know?"
The words left Merry's lips and she felt all her anxiety come to a head. It was now or never.
Renko sat silenced for a moment, having a hunch at where Merry was going with this.
"Yes, I know," she replied matter-of-factly. "What about it?"
Merry stayed silent for a while, thinking with a dazed look back in her eyes.
"I dunno.."
Renko looked up in the direction of her eyes, trying once more to catch her gaze. She saw the dazed look, but kept trying anyway.
"Do I know where you're going with this?"
Maribel finally met her friend's gaze.
"If you have to ask, you probably do," she responded. She placed her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand, her other resting on the table.
The seconds dragged out for as long as they possibly could for both of the girls.
"You're smart. You know what I was implying, right?"
Maribel finally broke the multi-minute long silence.
"Yeah," Renko responded. "Do you really..?"
"Mhm," Merry mumbled. "I do."
Renko giggled, slightly covering her mouth.
"I never knew you liked girls."
Merry's face flushed and she looked up at Renko accusingly, embarrassed.
"I-I didn't know either!! It was really sudden," she squeaked. "But.. It's been going on for a while now."
Renko placed her hand on Merry's resting one. As she did this, Merry's anxiety vanished almost entirely.
"Don't worry. You don't have to say the words here if you don't want to."
Maribel looked around at the other patrons nervously.
"Thank you," Merry mumbled. "I couldn't.." She laughed nervously, balling the hand under Renko's into a fist. She sighed.
"So, you feel the same, then..?"
Renko nodded subtly. "Of course," she said sweetly. "Once I heard you say it, I couldn't say no." She gave a small smile, and Merry spotted a bit of pink on her cheeks.
"Thank you..!"
Merry smiled, closing her eyes happily. This all went a lot better than she had thought! Her anxiety was for nothing, though, hindsight is 20/20.
"I can tell though," Renko began. "You were nervous this whole time.."
"Huh?" Merry gave a quizzical look. "I thought I did well at hiding it..!
"You know, you've always been one to express yourself. There's no hiding it for you."
"Ah, right.."
Maribel giggled, drawing her hand out from under Renko's and hovering it over her mouth.
"You know me better than I know myself!"
"Well, no surprise there. You've never taken a moment to analyze anything."
Renko looked back down at her food. God, she was flustered. But she couldn't show it now. She had to keep Merry calm.
"See? There you go again! Now shush, I don't want my knowledge of myself to be challenged! I'll have a crisis!"
"Now, don't make those jokes, Hearn-chan."
Ah?
Merry froze up.
That was new.
Hearn-chan!
...
Well, she wasn't complaining.
She could get used to this, definitely.
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